All RID Certified interpreters and transliterators. The CMP requires participants earn a minimum of eight (8.0) Continuing Education Units (CEUs) during each four (4) year certification maintenance cycle. These CEUs are earned by successfully completing learning activities approved by Sponsors.

B. ACET Participants

RID Associate members are automatically enrolled in the ACET Program. This program allows Associate members to document the continuing education activities that they have attended and to demonstrate professional participation in the interpreting field. The ACET program is only available to Associate members. Participation in this program begins when the member pays the annual fee for the fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). When an Associate member becomes certified, the CEUs earned in the ACET program donot transfer over to fulfill the CMP requirements. However, the ACET fees are credited to the CMP program through the end of the fiscal year (at which time the newly Certified interpreter becomes responsible for paying CMP fees).

C. RID Approved Sponsors

Any organization, agency, institution, affiliate chapter, or individual may apply to be a Sponsor. The approval process involves an initial review of the Sponsor’s application indicating their experience, expertise, and ability to provide quality continuing education activities. Sponsors have the responsibility for offering, endorsing, and ensuring the quality of educational activities offered for CEUs. Sponsor applicants may choose not to apply to administer Independent Study Activities (See Section IX). Sponsors are subject to ongoing monitoring, including regular audits. (See Section XI). To maintain the CMP Sponsorship status, Sponsors must pay annual dues to RID. Organizational Sponsorship dues are $350, Affiliate Chapter Sponsorship dues are $225, and Individual Sponsorship Dues are $175. RID’s fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. Dues and fees schedule:

June 30 – Dues should be paid for the upcoming fiscal year.

July 15 – A reminder e-mail will be sent to those that have not yet paid their dues.

July 31 – Final deadline for all dues before late fees are assigned to the unpaid Sponsors’ accounts.

August 1 – If dues have not been paid, sponsorship will be suspended until paid in full, including fees. ($50 late fees for individuals and affiliate chapters and $100 late fees for organization.) Suspension means that no new activities can be processed, but the Sponsor can continue with events already submitted.

September 30 – Sponsorship will be revoked if dues and late fees are not paid in full.

D. The Professional Development Committee

The Professional Development Committee advises the RID Board of Directors and assists RID Headquarters in the oversight of the policies and standards for the CMP and ACET program. This entails approving Sponsors, providing Sponsor training, monitoring Sponsor performance through spot and regular audits, guiding policy and procedures, and performing other related duties. Committee membership is composed of representatives from RID, the Conference of Interpreter Trainers (CIT) and the National Association for the Deaf (NAD). Members are appointed by the respective associations’ presidents and serve two-year terms beginning and ending on December 31st in the year following each RID National Conference.

E. RID Headquarters

All records, including the CMP and ACET databases, are housed at RID Headquarters. The Professional Development Manager serves as the point of contact for participants and Sponsors. RID Headquarters oversees the processing of CEUs by Sponsors, communicates with participants and Sponsors regarding program updates, coordinates the yearly audit, provides information and materials to the Sponsors, resolves transcript discrepancies, follows through with the revocation of members’ certification when the requirements of the CMP are not met, collects dues and fees, and serves as a general resource for program participants and Sponsors.

F. Continuing Education Units

The RID CMP uses an industry standard measure for documenting educational endeavors of members. The standard is the Continuing Education Unit (CEU) as designed and developed by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training (IACET). The CEU is an internationally standardized measurement: most commonly representing ten (10) contact hours of participation to equal 1.0 CEU. The traditional CEU is related to instructional hours; the most common module of educational experience, and the 60-minute clock hour is used in making calculations. Only completed instructional hours are considered in assigning CEUs. Lunch hours, socials and break times between sessions do not earn CEUs. Brief breaks within a single presentation that are considered standard procedure do not detract from calculation of CEUs. (See Section X) Non-traditional educational experiences must be assessed individually to determine how to assign CEUs in a manner consistent with the concept and philosophy of the traditional CEU. In these cases, CEUs are usually awarded using ratios that consider the complexity of the work involved and looking at time the average person might need to complete the work. The ratio for awarding credit is more likely 3:1 or 2:1. Please see Appendix A for a chart of suggested ratios for non-traditional activities. CEUs should not be awarded for repeating an identical activity within the same maintenance cycle (e.g. same presenter, title and objectives).

G. CMP/ACET Transcripts

A transcript of a members’ CMP or ACET activities is maintained through the RID database. This transcript reflects the continuing education activities completed by an Associate or Certified member. Each member may access his/her transcript by individually logging into myaccount.rid.org.

Certified Members: The transcript displays CEUs earned during a certified member’s four year cycle. Once a Certified member starts a new cycle, only the CEUs documenting educational activities completed during the new cycle will be displayed.

Associate Members: The transcript displays CEUs earned during the fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). Once the Associate membership has been renewed, only the CEUs documenting educational activities completed will be display for the current fiscal year.

H. Maintenance of Certification

To maintain certification, each Certified member must complete educational programming that is documented by earning at least eight (8) CEUs every four (4) year cycle. A minimum of six (6.0) CEUs documenting the equivalent educational work must be in Professional Studies. The number of years of each member’s first cycle varies, and as a result, each member’s first cycle varies in length, ranging from four (4) to five (5) years. All subsequent cycles are four years, beginning on Jan 1 of the first year and ending on Dec 31 of the fourth year for as long as the member chooses to maintain their certification.

1. Additional Generalist Certificate – Cycle Options:

Certified interpreters earning additional generalist certificates will be given the option to begin a new cycle. If they opt to begin a new cycle, the CEUs earned in the previous cycle will not be carried into the new cycle. CEUs earned during the new cycle will serve to maintain all certificates held.

2. Specialist Certificate – CEU Requirement:

To maintain any Specialist Certificate, a member must engage in educational programming specific to the specialty area in which s/he is certified. At least two (2) of the six (6) CEUs, documenting Professional Studies , are required to be within the field of specialization, effective with the beginning of the next new CMP cycle (Motion C2001.06). Due to the nature of the specialization and the limited education specific to interpreting in these areas, it may require the Sponsor to allow greater latitude and flexibility for the customization of an educational program by the member as new information and knowledge is brought into the area of specialization.

3. Loss of certification:

Any active Certified member not satisfying the requirements of the CMP for their specialty certificate will lose their specialty certification. They will retain their generalist certification if they have otherwise satisfied their educational requirements by the end of his/her cycle. (Motion C99.21)

4. Extension Requests:

RID will consider granting a one-year, once-in-a lifetime cycle extension upon submission of the Certification Cycle Extension application. The application and accompanying documentation must be submitted prior to the end of the participant’s cycle in order to avoid a late fee of $100. Applications will be considered and granted based on the inability to document and accrue the required number of CEUs. An extension can be granted only once in the participant’s lifetime. Please note that the granting of an extension does not delay the beginning of the participant’s new cycle. Once sufficient educational programming has been documented through CEUs to complete the extended cycle, all subsequent programming credits earned will be applied to the participant’s new cycle.

5. RID Membership Options:

Inactive: This category is available for Certified members who are not currently and will not be interpreting for a projected time due to a life-altering event or activity. While on Inactive status, the cycle is halted. No CEUs can be earned, but no time passes in the cycle. When a Certified member returns to active status, they will enter with the same amount of time and the same number of CEUs they had when they went to Inactive status.

Retired: This category is available for Certified members who are retired from interpreting and are over 55 years of age. A member must be currently certified to change to this category. It is assumed the retired member has ended their career and will no longer provide interpreting services. They may retain their professional certified status – retired. There are no CMP requirements for this category and CEUs cannot be earned on Retired status.